Due to various aeronautical telecommunications network (ATN) mandates, in coming years, it may become mandatory for all commercial aircraft to have a Protected Mode Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (PM-CPDLC) datalink capability. In order to support these future mandates, the number of air traffic control (ATC) centers that are upgraded to support ATN will increase. When supporting ATN, a pilot logs on to a CPDLC session with an ATC center to establish a communication link with the ATC center. Typically, to log on to a CPDLC session with an ATC Center, as part of flight preparation, a pilot identifies an ATC center and accompanying identification information in an airport data sheet or the pilot may remember the ATC center from experience.
However, when a pilot is unable to remember the ATC center, the pilot spends time searching through materials to acquire the needed information from a source of ATC center information. In some situations, when a pilot attempts to identify an ATC center in a source of ATC center information (such as a data sheet), the pilot may have to identify an ATC center in a list of multiple ATC centers. The pilot's selection of an ATC center in a list of multiple ATC centers has an accompanying probability that the pilot may select the wrong ATC center. Also, if a pilot enters in data that fails to match an ATC center, the pilot may have to spend further time to find and reenter the correct ATC center. In certain embodiments, to aid a pilot in entering the correct ATC center information, the ATN ATC center data is stored in a database. To enter in the correct data, a flight crew member may enter the ATN ATC name and the database provides the ATN address for the identified ATN ATC center. However, as an ATC center upgrades to an ATN center or if the address changes for the ATN center, the database on an aircraft becomes outdated and the database may be updated to enable communications with the upgraded ATN ATC center to enable communications with the ATN ATC center. However, updating the database on all aircraft in a fleet of aircraft is a large effort, especially as more and more ATC centers upgrade to ATN centers or as the addresses for the ATN centers change.